Everything that head coach Kevin Willard said after the win:
On Julian Reese’s last game at Xfinity Center
“I was just happy that he was able to get the ovation that he got, and I was really happy that he played the way he played because if he didn't play as physical as he's played, we would have struggled to win this game.”
On 6-of-11 3PT shooting in the second half
“Northwestern had a really tough loss against UCLA on Monday, and we played Wednesday night, so I knew we were going to be a little flat. We're going to be emotional and flat. And I just, I think the big thing was I thought our bench really gave us some really good minutes in the first half to kind of spell some guys. And just being at home really helped.”
On 19 points, 11 rebounds from Julian Reese
“I think he really embraced his last time being here. And I'm very thankful for our students and our fans to get here and give him I think - you're probably looking at maybe one of the last guys ever to spend four years or been here for four years at Maryland. So I think it was really special for him to get that moment.”
On whether there are any reflective conversations with Julian Reese
“I think he’s already out to dinner. He's got all his family here. It's his time. This is a very special day for these guys and they want to spend with their family. They don't want to spend it with me.”
On Reese closing out his career in one of Maryland’s best seasons over the last 20 years
“That was a conversation Ju and I had last March, was three big things he wanted. He wanted to get his degree from the University of Maryland. He wanted - that was really the biggest thing. He wanted to get his degree from the University of Maryland because he's a Maryland kid, so it meant that much. He wanted to get back to the NCAA tournament and he felt that this was the best place to do it. And he was loyal. Third, he was loyal. He's like I've been here and you've done right by me and I know you're going to continue to do right by me. When you transfer you never know what's going to happen. And he knew that he had a home, and he had a guy who's going to take care of him.”
On overcoming 18 turnovers vs. Northwestern
“The turnovers are a little bit of an issue. They were against Michigan too. I got to figure out how to practice, how to work on our fast break, to be honest with you. Without - I'm not that smart of a guy - I had to work on a fast break with only eight guys. Because that's all we have to practice, is eight guys. And that's been a little bit of an issue over the last two and a half weeks where I think we've been really solid defensively. We've been pretty good in the halfcourt offense. Our fast break numbers have really gone down because we've been really sloppy, because we haven't been able to practice that as much. I got to try to figure a way this week that we can stay sharp on the break, because I think we had seven of our turnovers were on the fastbreak, and it just looks like we're just like, we have no idea what we're doing when that was a really, really strong suit, in the middle of January and February.”
On the rest between regular season finale and Big Ten Tournament
“We have not been good coming off byes. Thanks a lot, appreciate it. I was going to go have a beer but now I’m going to switch to whiskey. Going out west was, we had four days off because of the New York trip so that was a really – and then going out west. And I thought we played pretty good going into Ohio State, we just missed our free throws. We would’ve won at Ohio State if we made our free throws. I think we’re going to take, technically, two days off but it won’t be a full two days. It’ll be like a day and a half.”
On the struggles of guarding Northwestern’s Nick Martinelli
“He's not a good matchup for anybody. Like that kid's a warrior. That kid is, if he could ever improve his outside shot just a little bit, he's unstoppable. He knows angles. Everyone knows he's going back to his right shoulder, his left hand, but he still gets there because he understands how to set guys up. Without Nick Martinelli, that team wouldn't win a game, and they lost [Brooks] Barnhizer, I forget the point guard’s name but they lost the starting point guard, and everybody knows that you got to stop Martinelli to beat them and that kid’s willed that program the seven wins, which is ridiculous considering how many injuries they've had. He's a really, really good player. I voted for him first team because I thought without him, Chris would have no chance just because of the injuries they've had.”
On 24 wins to close the regular season
“It's my job. So, I mean, if I don't do that, I always say someone else is going to be sitting here. So I just focus on my job. I'm like an old school worker. I like getting in here at 6 AM, I like to work. You know, my job is to win games. You know, if I don't win games, I'm not going to be here. That that's the stress that being a coach is. So molding and all, I don't get any satisfaction over anything. I just feel like I've done my job and I need to do my job every year. That's the way I look at every year. My stress level in September goes through the roof, and I don’t talk to my wife, my kids hate me. Everyone hates me, but I have to win games, and I have to mold young men, and I have to graduate young men, and then you still have to recruit young men. So it's my job. Great job, not complaining, because I know someone on Twitter is gonna say, Willard’s complaining, look at his salary, I love my job. My job is to win games.”
On Reese’s free throw improvement
“Ju’s different. Ju’s a big guy that enjoys working. Me and Ju put two days of work in this week, I was like, I'll see you at 10 AM. He's like, I can't wait. So it just shows you the maturity he has and also his work ethic. He's just he's got a great work ethic, which is very [rare] for big guys. Most big guys just don't like working on their game. Ju knew it was a weakness and he's made of the strength now.”
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